Courtesy: www.MondayNightMayhem.com
Former WWE superstar & developmental talent, Cassidy Riley, was one of the special guests on this past week’s live edition (02/25/08) of Monday Night Mayhem (presented by Sweet Sunshine Sauces: the official finishing sauce of “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio”) — which can be heard in streaming audio every week (hosted by The Big Mosh, Blade, & DFL, and heard LIVE at 8PM ET/7PM CT every Monday night) exclusively on The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network (www.MondayNightMayhem.com, www.OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com, & www.ITunes.com).
Cassidy’s first-post WWE interview can now be heard for FREE in Real Audio.
February 25th Monday Night Mayhem (streaming audio): www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/waxfiles/022508.wax
“The Road To WrestleMania” is heating up, and fans around the world know that “The Showcase Of The Immortals” goes through “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio.” This week’s all-new, slam-packed edition of The Mayhem also featured the latest from the WrestleMania XXIV Press Conference & all of the new from the week in ECW/WWE with The Monster Factory’s Jim Molineaux, Old Time Wrestling’s Ed Atlas with his takes on Hulk Hogan‘s MTV.com interview/his challenge for “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Plus, TNA’s Matt Morgan giving his thoughts on the rebirth of his career in Total Nonstop Action & the latest on the lead-up to the Destination X PPV @ The Scope in Norfolk, VA.
Also, check out the official MNM Podcast Page, presented by VisuWalls, the extreme wall graphic (featuring the 2/25/08 edition of The Mayhem, in addition to more than 80+ archived editions of “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio”). You are able to download your favorite editions of The Mayhem…and listen to them at your own leisure. Another exciting feature for you, our loyal listeners — brought to you by “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio.”
Here are some of the highlights from Nigel’s interview on the show, provided by The Mayhem’s co-host, The Big Mosh.
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The Big Mosh & DFL welcomed Cassidy aboard to the program, and he thanked The Mayhem Crew for having him aboard for his first post-WWE interview. Cassidy is proud to say that his career has come “full circle” indeed, as he has worked The Dallas Sportatorium, fought Jerry “The King” Lawler in The Mid-South Coliseum, and now…his first appearance on “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio.”
The question that wrestling fans around the world want to know is why Cassidy feels he was let go by the WWE. Cassidy told DFL & Mosh that he believes being injured in the late part of 2007 was a contributing factor. While teaming with his former partner KC James vs. The Major Brothers at an OVW show, he landed up breaking a bone in his elbow. Cassidy was released at the same time with Ace Steel (knee injury) & Roadkill (neck injury) — two guys that were also injured at/around the same time as him. He was not given a specific reason as to why he was released, not did he ask for one, and no information was volunteered.
Cassidy has been a tag team competitor for a large portion of his career, and Ohio Valley Wrestling (while operated through World Wrestling Entertainment) saw the rise to prominence of several different tag teams that have had some success on WWE television (Cryme Tyme & Deuce ‘N’ Domino). It does seem, however, that after a few months after an initial call-up to the main roster, those teams appear to be not pushed as hard in one reason or another. Cassidy feels that yes, certain guys on the main roster are given good opportunities, but when it comes to the tag team division as a whole, “you don’t need to blind man to realize that the tag team division is not a high priority in the WWE.”
The past few weeks have seen the WWE finalize the moving of their developmental facilities from Louisville, KY @ Ohio Valley Wrestling to Tampa, FL & Florida Championship Wrestling. Cassidy said that not only him, but a good number of the guys under contract knew this was indeed going to go down. “We all knew this was coming, but we didn’t want to believe it.” He was informed about two weeks before this happened that OVW was going to be getting some new talents aboard, and that there was nothing to worry about. Himself & others were in essence told: Do not believe the rumors & the hype. He felt bad for Danny Davis & Al Snow (whom he holds in very high esteem). Cassidy, thanks to the both of them, learned the most out of under point in his career under their watch.
A little over one year ago saw Cassidy take on “The Alpha Male” Marcus Cor Von (Monty Brown). Two of TNA’s home-grown stars in a WWE ring on WWE television. Prior to that night happening, he did decide to part ways with TNA Wrestling (his contract had expired in August). Despite being unable to renew his contract, he always described TNA as “his home,” as many of those he grew up with in the business & worked the independent scene with him worked there. He got in contact with “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (who Cassidy said was a fan of his work) who was with the WWE at the time. If that meant heading down to OVW for a little while as well, he was willing to do what was necessary for his career from a long-term perspective. The night in Little Rock, AR when Cassidy worked with Monty was supposed to have been a dark match against The Shane Twins, but that got scrapped. When the plan was put into fruition, Cassidy found out from Johnny Ace that he would be the opponent for Monty in his ECW debut match. He had no problems with that, as he wanted to have that night be Monty’s night to shine, and does feel that his professionalism that night led to him being a part of the WWE.
Cassidy sees plenty of potential from the talents in the WWE developmental system, especially Paul Birchill. “Paul’s work rate is second-to-none.” Cassidy also believes that if creatively booked right, Birchill can be a main player & a big superstar in the coming months/years in World Wrestling Entertainment. In addition, he sees big things for Kofi Kingston, James Curtis, & Sean Spears.
Mosh & DFL asked Cassidy just how vital the creative side of things are within the WWE. Cassidy said that the creative is very important to the company from a worker perspective, but he tried taking more of a pro-active approach. While working on his in-ring work, he took the initiative to submit some creative ideas for himself to the higher-ups. He was very somewhat confused when he did not hear any sort of response or feedback on that — which “frustrated him to no end.” His take is that it is creative’s job to come up with everything from A-Z, and that it sometimes gets pawned off on the boys themselves.
In closing, Cassidy wished to give some parting comments to his loyal fans around the world, who have stood by him since Day One. Head on over to Cassidy’s official website @ www.CassidyRiley.net & his official MySpace @ www.MySpace.com/CassidyRiley.
In Cassidy’s first-ever Mayhem appearance, he also gave his uncensored takes & thoughts on the difference between the WWE & TNA in-ring styles (which he describes as “night & day”), his angle with Raven in TNA, whether he sees “Wildcat” Chris Harris being able to adapt to the WWE, working one of his first nights in the WWE with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, & the lowdown on whether or not he sees a return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the coming months ahead. Let the internet rumor mill begin…
*As we get ready to launch the new spring 2008 season of The Mayhem, we strongly all of our fans around the world to support all of our fine advertisers/sponsors (with new advertisers to be announced in the coming weeks/months ahead!):
Sweet Sunshine Hot Sauces (official website: www.SweetSunshine.com): “The official finishing sauce of The Mayhem.” Six tremendous flavors to choose from: Sweet, Warm, Jamaican Jerk, Roasted Shallot & Garlic, Hot, & Atomic! Sweet Sunshine Sauces are the proud winners of three Scovie Awards! Fans, remember the MNM Sixth-Year Anniversary Celebration Special: $3.00 bottles of Sweet Sunshine! It does not get any better than that! Quantities are limited, as Sweet Sunshine is making room for their newly-designed bottled, which will be made available to the general public soon, along with their newly-designed & state-of-the-art website.
The Monster Factory (official website: www.MonsterFactory.com): Is there someone special in your life that wants to become the next Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Kurt Angle, or “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. Well, you now have the chance to enroll in the official wrestling school of The Mayhem & one of the most-respected academies in the world. And mark to mark your calendars & make your airline/rental car reservations…as The Mayhem returns to The Monster Factory on Saturday afternoon, March 15th @ 2PM ET.
Old Time Wrestling (official website: www.OldTimeWrestling.net) has hit the internet! Check out the latest innovation in professional wrestling on the world-wide-web! Old Time Wrestling is a throwback to “the days of old” in the world of wrestling. For only $20.00/month, you will receive over eight hours of matches to watch at your convenience. The live broadcast begins every Saturday afternoon at 2PM ET. Head on over to www.OldTimeWrestling.net to connect to wrestling of yesterday with today’s technology. And are you looking for that perfect gift for the wrestling fan in your life? How about tickets to the weekly Old Time Wrestling shows, located at The Monster Factory. Affordable family fun for all ages & for a great price!
Courtesy: www.MondayNightMayhem.com & www.WrestlingRadioAwards.com
Monday Night Mayhem would like to thank all of our fans around the world for voting for “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio” in the 2008 Wrestling Radio Awards. Monday Night Mayhem was the proud recipient of the 2008 WRA for Media Interview Of The Year with “the voice of WWE’s Monday Night RAW,” Jim Ross. In addition, The Mayhem was voted the “Best Booked Show” of 2007 — the second time that we have achieved this honor amongst all broadcast & broadband wrestling radio programming.
Monday Night Mayhem is honored to add these to our other prestigious WRA Awards: 2007’s Media Interview Of The Year (Eric Bischoff w/special guest co-host, Scott Hudson) & 2006’s Female Interview Of The Year (Jackie Gayda).
*All new & old Mayhem listeners can still check out the archived programs/shows of “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio” from our six+ years of audio excellence, featuring the official Monday Night Mayhem WrestleMania 23 Countdown Special from Detroit’s Hilton Garden Inn, the official Monday Night Mayhem Dream Reunion II On-Location Special from Kokomo, IN — featuring: former WWE Diva search contestant Jessica Hatch, Al Snow, Marty Jannetty, Chavo “Classic” Guerrero Sr., “Nasty Boy” Brian Knobbs, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Rosey, The Midnight Express (“Loverboy” Dennis Condrey & “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton), “The Genius” Lanny Poffo, & The Orient Express’ Pat Tanaka, & our “Best Of 2007” show (featuring the top three interviews of 2k7 heard on The Mayhem), plus current WWE superstars (Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Candice Michelle, & Charlie Haas), WWE Hall Of Famers (Jim Ross, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, “The Mouth Of The South” Jimmy Hart, The Iron Sheik, Tito Santana, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, Harley Race, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, & Don Muraco), the finest from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (Jeff Jarrett, Jim Cornette, Kevin Nash, “The Instant Classic” Christian Cage, “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, The Dudley Boyz/Team 3-D, Scott Steiner, Kip/BG James, “The Notorious 187” Homicide, Eric Young, Kaz, & “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal — along with TNA knockouts Christy Hemme, Gail Kim, & Traci Brooks), Ring Of Honor’s warriors (ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness, “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson, & ROH head booker Gabe Sapolsky), ECW originals (Rob Van Dam, “The Franchise” Shane Douglas, Raven, The Sandman, “The Pitbull” Gary Wolfe, Danny Doring, & ECW founder Tod Gordon), some of the greatest managers in the history of our business (Percy Pringle III/Paul Bearer, “The Doctor Of Style” Slick, JJ Dillon, & Gary Hart), the voices that have called the sport/sports-entertainment for years (World Class’ Bill Mercer, the Mid-Atlantic/NWA’s Bob Caudle, & WCW/AWA’s Lee Marshall), wrestling legends/personalities from over the years, past & present (Terry Funk, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, The Honky Tonk Man, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Vader, Konnan, Tully Blanchard, Diamond Dallas Page, “Nasty Boy” Brian Knobbs, Nick “U-Gene” Dinsmore, Low-Ki, “The Wildman” Marc Mero, David “Gangrel” Heath, & Chris Nowinski), & some of the funniest entertainers from around stage & screen (Dave Coulier of TV’s “Full House,” VH-1 “Best Week Ever’s” Greg Fitzsimmons of VH-1’s “Best Week Ever,” Dustin “Screech” Diamond of TV’s “Saved By The Bell,” Howard Stern’s Gary The Retard, “Mad TV’s” Aries Spears, & Comic Relief founder Bob Zmuda). All this & so much more…now available on www.MondayNightMayhem.com, www.OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com, & www.ITunes.com.
As we begin our new spring season in just a few weeks, Monday Night Mayhem’s crew of The Big Mosh, Blade, & DFL wish to thank our loyal fans around the world who have helped us get to where we are at now and for your continued dedication, loyalty, & support.